The present invention relates generally to the field of latches for use in vehicle seats and more particularly relates to a vehicle seat and a seatback latch.
It is well known in the art to provide folding seatbacks to allow access to the cargo storage area through the opening in the partition between the passenger area and cargo storage area of a vehicle. It is also known to provide a folding seatback to allow access to areas behind a vehicle seat such as in a sport utility vehicle, van or the like. It is also known to provide a vehicle seat, for example, an automotive seat and a reclinable back.
In a typical configuration, the seatback includes a latch that engages a striker member to secure the seatback in an upright, or design seating position. Such latch assemblies provide a simple and cost effective method for latching the seatback but have inherent issues with freeplay and noise (buzzes, squeaks and rattles (BSR)) created by movement of the latch relative to and against the striker member when the seat is in the design position. Such issues are typically managed by rubber bumpers or plastic overmold components which are included in a seat latch design to dampen motion and noise. These design features are limited in effectiveness because they do not adequately address the relative motion between components within the latch and generate additional design considerations regarding engagement efforts. Rubber bumpers commonly make it more difficult for an operator to latch or unlatch the seatback when moving it from an open position to a closed position or vice versa. Prior art latches have included a single structural camming surface that engages a catch to inhibit movement in the forward direction of the seatback in conjunction with the use of a rubber interference member to inhibit movement in the rearward direction.
Notwithstanding the known latch mechanisms and vehicle seat design application, there remains a significant need to develop a latch for use in a vehicle seatback which is capable of restricting seatback to striker member motion without causing high engagement efforts. There is further need to provide a vehicle seat that minimizes or eliminates noise (BSR) due to the latch catch going in and out of contact with the striker by restricting the movement of the catch in both the forward and rearward directions and keeping the striker member and catch mechanism in contact under high vibration loading.